The PYB Blog

Property boundaries that are not well known and well demarcated can lead to confusion about boundary locations—especially when an existing survey plan is unavailable.

In situations like this, it is recommended that you and your neighbour engage a licensed land surveyor.

A: Don’t assume the boundary issue won’t be your problem.

If a potential buyer reviews a survey as part of their due diligence, this boundary issue could delay or even terminate the closing, and possibly lead to a substantially reduced sale price.

Many trespassing or property encroachment situations are simply a case of a neighbour being unaware or unconcerned about the location of property boundaries.

Before speaking to your neighbour about the situation, ensure that you know exactly where your boundaries are located. Do not assume that a fence line, swale or ditch, hedgerow or tree marks the boundary between your properties. Only a survey plan, or a surveyor's field stakeout, is authoritative evidence of the location of the boundary.

Generally, people can prune overgrowth in their yard. The law recognizes the rights of landowners to enjoy their property. However, there is a City of Toronto by-law formally known as City of Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 813, Article III, 'Private Tree Protection', designed to protect trees.

Great question. 49% of residential properties in the GTA have boundary issues that can flare up into full-blown disputes after a house sale.

Interestingly, Title Insurance does not cover most of these issues, so all too often homeowners are left in a bad situation.

Yes they are. By “stamped” they mean that they have an official sticker on them issues but the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) and that they have been embossed with the stamp of the surveyor that completed the work.

An electronic copy of such a plan (such as a PDF) is considered “valid” if is shows this sticker.

A: An encroachment refers to a physical entity that belongs to one landowner but lies wholly or partially on a neighbouring property.

Encroachments may be sheds, driveways, curbs, roof overhangs, eaves, retaining walls or fences. A survey plan enables a property owner to identify encroachments and seek professional advice to remedy the situation.

Our last few blog posts have focused on the top four situations where a land survey plan is important: buying a home, selling a home, planning an exterior renovation (building a fence, shed, etc.) and disputing a boundary. Now we’ll look at the land survey plan itself, and the important role it plays in our system of private land ownership, which is based on properties with well-defined boundaries.

One of the oldest professions in the world, land surveying emerged along with the human desire to build large structures, from Stonehenge forward. Ancient surveyors plotted the sites of the pyramids in Egypt before the first massive building stones slid into place. The Romans established land surveying as a profession to measure and manage the conquered lands that formed their empire. Both William the Conqueror and Napoleon Bonaparte relied on precise maps to gain wealth and power.

Notable surveyors include Sir George Everest, (yes, that mountain), George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In what would become Canada, the great explorers – including Samuel de Champlain, James Cook and George Vancouver – began the process of documenting the contours of the land on paper.

Licensed Ontario Land Surveyors and their staff, working within the Province of Ontario, have a statutory right to enter onto private property in order to perform a survey. Despite this entitlement, they often meet resistance: neighbours may object and have been known to call the police to stop what they consider an act of trespass.

The law recognizes certain circumstances when officials of government agencies and inspectors can enter onto private land without a search warrant. But this access is subject to limitations. Even fire firefighters and emergency medical services staff must abide by certain conditions when entering private land during an emergency.